Nineteen Candles
by xStelenaJouren
Summary: Happy 19th Birthday Lauren Branning! Eastenders didn't show your birthday so here's a one shot on it! Enjoy people.


Nineteen Candles.

AN: So today (March 29th) would of been Lauren's 19th Birthday but it wasn't shown in the episode :( so I decided to write a one shot about it.

And I don't know if you saw on my other story but I have a campaign going to get Jacqueline Jossa & Tony Discipline Best Twitter Couple at The Heat Twitter Awards. Hope you are all on board & enjoy this.

"Oi, it's time to wake up" A voice shouted at Lauren Branning on the morning of the 29th March. She sighed, rubbing her eyes and opened them to see her siblings, Abi and Oscar, stood at the bottom of her bed smiling at her and sang Happy Birthday to her. She cringed.

"You two are the worst!" She exclaimed, sitting up, smiling, despite of herself.

"You love us really. Here. Presents!" Abi replied, smiling, handing her a pile of presents whilst Oscar handed her some cards. Lauren smiled and opened them. Among her presents were a pair of hair straighters, some make up and a pair of jeans.

"Thank guys" She said, once she had opened the last present.

"No problem. Alice is downstairs" Abi replied, smiling.

"Just Alice?" Lauren questioned, shooting up an eyebrow. She began to worry that telling Joey's questions of what she wanted to do for her birthday, she wanted to do nothing and it was just another day were listened to and he had ignored it. She pouted slightly before getting out of bed and heading downstairs, grabbing her phone as she did. No messages.

"Oh no" She whispered to herself. She headed downstairs where she found Alice in the living room.

"Happy Birthday, Lauren!" She said, running up to her and hugged her then held up a gift bag after the hug ended.

Lauren took it and noted the card was signed just from Alice when she opened it. She found her cousin had brought her favourite perfume.

"Thanks, Al!" She exclaimed, hugging the other girl again, smiling.

"No problem. Oh, Joey told me to tell you he is really busy all day and he is really sorry but he will be free tomorrow" Alice replied. Lauren sighed but nodded, feeling a bit dishearten. She felt like a balloon that had just been popped. She felt the need to cry and she didn't know why. She didn't expect him to take her seriously. Some birthday this was gonna be.

"Erm, okay. No worries. I'll be upstairs" She said, quietly before retreating upstairs.

In the middle of the day, she still had no texts. She knew it was Good Friday so Lucy would be busy with work and Whitney had enough on with Liam. Lauren sighed, grabbing a tub of ice cream from the freezer and headed upstairs. She put on the nearest film she could find which happened to be The Notebook and switched it on.

She wasn't usually the one to cry at films but she did at the end of this one as she came to the bottom of the ice cream tub, tears pouring from her face, both from upset and anger. Since when did Joey decide to take her so seriously?

"Lauren?" A voice asked behind her. She jumped, thinking it was him, hopeful but it turned out to be Abi. She sighed and turned away.

"What's wrong" Her sister asked, sitting next to her.

"Joey forgot my birthday" Lauren sighed, quietly, switching the TV off.

"What? He asked me last week what he should do for you and I told him to come and ask you" Abi replied, with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah and I told him nothing. It's just a normal day for me. I didn't expect him to take it so seriously. Not one text, Abi. Not one and he told Alice to tell me he is busy. What is that?" Lauren exclaimed, picking up her phone before slamming it back down on the bed.

"Oh my god, Lauren! No wonder guys think we are complicated! You should of told him you wanted to do something. It's your birthday. I thought you would want to spend time with him" Abi replied, sighing.

"I do, I do but I didn't know what to say! He is new to all this like I am. I'd feel like any suggestions he would think is stupid and laugh at me" Lauren admitted, biting her lip and looking down.

"Come on, get ready. Your going over to his and telling him you want to do something. Go on!" Abi said. Lauren sighed and nodded, standing up.

Half an hour, Lauren looked in the living room mirror, thinking she looked okay. She then looked out of the window and narrowed her eyes.

"What the actual hell? I'm gonna kill him" She exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Abi asked, behind her.

"My so called boyfriend. Still in his pyjamas at" Lauren checked her watch "3pm in the afternoon! He told Alice he was busy!"

"You did tell him you didn't want to do anything" Abi reminded her. Lauren narrowed her eyes and grabbed her coat from the sofa.

"Don't wait up" She said quickly before rushing over to Number 23.

Kat answered and told her Joey was in the living room. Lauren nodded and said goodbye before heading into the living room. He looked up at her and smiling at her as he stood up.

"Hey. Was not expecting you today" He said, walking over to her and gave her a brief kiss before sitting on the edge of the sofa.

"You weren't expecting me? You do realise what today is don't you?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes.

He suppressed a laugh "Normal day right? Which usually means me staying in all day and being lazy on my day off?"

"When will you realise when I say something, I usually mean the opposite?" She said, crossing her arms.

"You've lost me" He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh my god, Joey, it's my birthday which usually me-" She stopped when she saw him smirking at her.

"What the hell could you be smirking at me for?" She demanded, crossing her arms.

"Carry on, it's your birthday which means what? Finish what you were saying" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes "Which means it needs to be spent with loved ones and you clearly are one of those so why all MIA on me?"

He sighed, took her hand and pulled her closer to him.

"What did you say to me last week, Monday and Wednesday?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's not the point" She mumbled, looking down.

"What did you say, Lauren?" He repeated, lifting her chin up with his other hand.

"I said I didn't want to do anything for my birthday because its just another day, it's nothing special and I didn't want anything" Lauren told him, sighing.

"Yes I think it was around them lines and I need to tell you, Lauren, that your wrong. It's not just another day. Your birth is definitely something to celebrate and very special" He replied, smiling.

She rolled her eyes "Now you just want in my pants"

"I never said I didn't but I didn't say that to get into them. I have other methods to do that" He replied. She slapped him arm softly and kissed him.

"Happy Birthday, babe. You know I wouldn't forgot" He said, resting his forehead against hers.

"So why pretend you did?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So you would realise the importance of your birthday" He replied. She nodded and kissed him again.

"So lets start this again, what do you want to do for your birthday?" Joey asked her, after their kiss ended.

"I don't know, tbh. Something fun" Lauren replied, after a moment.

"Define fun" He said, raising an eyebrow.

She mused over this thought for moment.

"There is one thing. But you'll think it's stupid" She replied, quietly and looked down. He titled her chin, gaining eye contact with her.

"Try me" He told her. She nodded.

"Well, there's this art gallery four tube stops away and I've always wanted to go. But at night. Because it has amazing views of the city but the trouble is that it closes at 4" She proclaimed. She watched him take this in and nodded.

"I take it there is security guards?" She nodded at his question. He thought some more.

"Leave it with me. I'm off to get changed. Your present is on the table with your card" He told her, kissing her briefly. She saw a package. She narrowed her eyes and went to open it. It was a new sketch pad and a new set of drawing pencils. She smiled, tracing her fingers over them.

"It's for my benefit more than yours of course so you can draw me some more" Joey said, walking in the room, pulling on his t'shirt. She chucked a cushion at him which he caught and threw back at her.

"As much as I would love to play fight, we can't, thanks to your stubbornness, we have lost most of your birthday. Come on. We are going for a drink then we have a tube to catch" He told her, kissing her briefly.

"Wait, what, why?" Lauren asked.

"Isn't there an art gallery you want to check out?" He questioned. Her mouth opened in shock but she nodded...

"That was the longest toilet stop ever!" Lauren exclaimed, as Joey retook his seat at the vic.

"I have a confession to make. I didn't go to the toilet. I was picking up this" He replied, carefully placing a box in front on her and a minute mart bag in front on her. She opened the bag and found candles, plastic cutlery , paper plates and a lighter. Then opened the box and found a birthday cake.

"Triple chocolate and vanilla with a fudge layer?" She questioned. He nodded and smirked. She kissed him, smiling.

"Come on, we have a tube to catch" He replied, standing up, balancing the cake and the bag on one hand and held out his spare hand. She took it, smiling and they headed into the night...

"Wait, I'm hungry and cake won't just do" Lauren said as they got off the tube.

"Lucky I google this street and there's a Pizza Hut 3 doors down and they do takeout" Joey replied, smiling.

"Pizza and cake? You know me too well" She told him. They went to Pizza Hut and ordered some Pizza before heading to the gallery.

"How are we going to do this?" She asked, as they rounded a corner, being careful of the security guard.

"Leave it with me. Does this place have cameras?" He questioned. She nodded.

"Trust you to pick one with a high security. Lucky I love you" He added, looking around.

"I was gonna say!" She proclaimed. He chuckled and kissed her before looking around again.

"Wait a minute, that's Jacob Jackman. I went to school with him. I didn't know he was a security guard now. Wait here" Joey quickly told her, handed her the food and hurried off. About 5 minutes later, he returned, smiling.

"Come on, beautiful. We have an hour" He told her, taking her hand and they walked into the gallery...

"How did you manage this?" Lauren asked, as she took off her shoes after they finished a 360 tour of the gallery.

"I have my means. Don't worry" He replied, smiling as he took her hand and they sat down on the floor, looking out of the tilted windows which gave them a good view of London. He then saw to the food, putting the candles on the cake but they ate the pizza first before he lit the candles on the cake.

"Go on, you need to make a wish" He told her, once he had. She gave him a shy smile and blew them out.

"So what did you wish for?" He asked after a moment as he began to cut the cake up, handing her a plate with a piece on.

"You know you shouldn't ask. It won't come true but lucky for you, I didn't wish for anything" Lauren replied, smiling.

He narrowed his eyes at her "Why not?"

"Because I have everything I need and want right here" She told him.

Joey looked at her intensely and took her plate off her. Before she could question this, his lips found hers and he moving her, pushing her onto the floor and on to the blanket he had brought and began to straddled her before kissing her neck.

"Joey, the cameras" She managed to get out, gasping.

"Turned the other way and off" He replied as he began to unbutton her shirt, dropping kisses to her bare skin as he did. Her back arched as if on its on accord as he lifted her slightly and unhooked her bra. Her hands then played with the hem of his t'shirt as his lips returned to hers and they disconnected for a moment as she lifted it over his head before kissing each again. She flushed as their bodies came closer together, their crotches brushing each others. Their hands found each other's zippers and they pushed each other's trousers down, one after the one, before their underwear were down and he was inside her, becoming one. They let out their noises of pleasures as they did.

"Fuck" She whispered, gripping onto him harder, her leg tighter around his waist, her fingers digging into his back as they picked up speed. They hit their climaxed at the same time, saying each others names before Joey collapsed against Lauren's chest, panting.

"I love you so much. I hope you realise now how important your birthday is" He told her, as he listened to her racing heart. She exhaled deeply, trying to control her breathing, as her hands found his hair, trying to calm him as he struggled to control his own breathing.

"If we do this every birthday, then yes I will" She replied, sighing a sigh of content.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked suddenly.

"Go on" She replied, smiling at him.

"You know you said you have everything. Are you sure there isn't anything you want anything else at all?" He questioned, looking up at her.

"No, everything is perfect as it is right now" She replied, smiled. But she wrote something different in her diary.

On my 19th Birthday, I wished by my 25th Birthday, I would be married to Joey and would of/ will bare his children.


End file.
